While dying for a cause might seem old fashioned, and I myself have huge reservations about the ramifications of “paying the ultimate price” in service to abstract principles, the truth is I’ve been thinking more and more about the necessity of accepting death, of even being willing to die, as a basis upon which a person can live a full and meaningful life. In other words, it doesn’t have to be about abstraction, at all. Fear of death holds us back from living - a platitude, you might say. But I’m not talking about vacuous justifications for trivial and relatively solitary pursuits like bungee jumping.
As a society, we need to come to terms with death. We seem more than willing to bankrupt ourselves and our families (and, ultimately, our society) in order to prolong one’s own or a loved one’s life by a year or two. We also seem unable to even fathom the idea of going to war for a just cause, or a greater good. Even if this is a dangerous idea, even if you believe that ends don’t justify means, isn’t it important to maintain a tradition of dignified strength and bravery in the face of small-mindedness and cowardice?
People talk about “treading lightly”, with respect to environmental issues. This could (mistakenly, I think) be taken to imply that we live less fully, that we’re less “here” than those who disrespect their surroundings, and the lives of others. But I’d submit that the person who lives conscientiously in this manner is more fully “here” than the person who is relatively careless. Likewise, I think it’s possible to “tread lightly” in a broader way with respect to the will to live. It’s not that a weaker will to live is desirable, it’s that if there isn’t also an ever-ready willingness to die, this “will to live” is trivial - it is just careless, unquestioned habit. I think a healthy willingness to die provides access to a reserve of strength and composure that results in what people call character. Character, contrary to conventional wisdom, isn’t a mere given - it is something that can be developed. I’d suggest that one way to develop character is to familiarize oneself with death - to learn to face the reality of death, unflinchingly.
For all the talk about people not fearing death, only pain, something doesn’t seem to add up. People still cling to life as if living is, in all circumstances, its own reward. And too much fear of pain is pathological. People can’t even eat lunch with a couple bees around. They jump up and down, run inside, and next time - if they’re even brave enough to eat outside again - they come out with Raid® in hand.
I’m suggesting that this attitude - this inflated fear of pain and death - is a degraded one, which in turn degrades our quality of life.